Mara Saldana Jones

About Mara Saldana Jones

People and Culture executive specializing in building and scaling People strategy across startups. With a background in operations, I bring an execution first lens to People leadership by designing systems that balance empathy and performance while driving business outcomes.I currently lead the People function at Crafty, overseeing Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition, People Operations, Learning and Development, and Compliance across the U.S. As Crafty enters its next phase of growth, I focus on building scalable frameworks, modernizing People infrastructure, and evolving the employee experience alongside the business.My experience spans early stage startups 60-400, high-growth companies, and enterprise environments supporting employee workforces in multi-state, operationally complex organizations. I have built People programs from the ground up and scaled them through rapid growth, organizational change, and transformation, translating business strategy into practical, people-centered systems.My approach centers on developing accountable leaders, aligning People strategy with business priorities, and scaling culture without losing the human element.DiSC: iDCliftonStrengths: Relator | Significance | Achiever | Arranger | Strategic Core focus areas include People and Culture Strategy, Executive and Leadership Development, Compensation and Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition and Workforce Planning, Employee Experience and Engagement, Organizational Design and Change Management, and Compliance and Risk Management. Native Spanish speakerPassions: Cooking (currently perfecting toddler-made recipes)| Travel (next stop: Thailand 2026)| Tennis (prefer if we don’t keep score)| Residential Real Estate Investment and Interior Design (I\'ll design any house you give me keys to)-About Crafty:Crafty manages workplace food & beverage programs across the globe for some of the world’s top workplaces (e.g, Ramp, Block (Square), DraftKings, Nerdwallet, Brex, Carta, McKinsey & Company, GoFundMe, Flexport, Zillow, Zynga). Crafty provides the services and the technology (e.g, reporting & analytics, inventory management, budgeting) to manage pantry, catering, cafe programs in 35 cities across 5 countries.

Experience

1. Advisor

   Peopletech Partners

   Jul 2023 — Present

   PeopleTech Partners is an early stage advisory and investment group that leverages the insights of current People Leaders operating in top tier businesses to accelerate the growth of companies in our portfolio.Our thesis is simple: We believe that it’s critical for founders to have key partners that work in the companies their products serve. If founding teams have the right partners early enough, their product trajectory accelerates, and their businesses thrive.To learn more about PeopleTech Partners (PTP) and subscribe to our newsletter, visit

Education

• Cornell University

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Hotel Administration

• UC Berkeley Extension

  Design and Visual Communications, General

  2019